


The Illithid child

by ZZEx



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Dungeons & Dragons Character Backstory, Eventual Found Family, Eventual Happy Ending, Experimentation, Illithids, Magic, Other, Science Experiments, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Slavery, The Underdark (Forgotten Realms), Unethical Experimentation, learning emotions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:02:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23198281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZZEx/pseuds/ZZEx
Summary: Don't read this, my dumbass has to rewrite it and add chapters. djdjdjskskakskdksd.An experiment to study how a child host could develop their innate psionics as they grow conducted by the creative creed.The nourisher creed is against it.The child tries their best.(Extra warnings will be put at the beginning of each chapter. I haven't finished reading the Illithiad, so there'll be stuff that I will have to fix in this story sooner or later, I want to try to make it less ooc)
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there, it's me, the writer, I came to give some explanations about this fic, mostly terminology that will be used.
> 
> My elder- Anyone who talks with the elder brain will start by addressing them with that formal title, no one uses the elder brain's old name.
> 
> Father, dad or creator- The child will use these terms to talk to or about the ulitharid who is entrusted to raise him. Creator when in from of others Illithid, father when alone and dad when the child is recently awake, but will slowly correct himself to say father instead(but the child will sometimes use the dad term unconsciously)
> 
> Child, abomination, little one.- Terms that the different Illithids of this story will use to refer to the child(almost everyone who calls the child abomination is an Illithid who's against the experiment.)
> 
> Telephatic talk will appear like this <<"...">>
> 
> Thrall- Basically slaves, the Illithid enslave them by hypnotism/mind control.
> 
> The creeds- The different organizations of Illithids within a hive/colony/city.
> 
> Also, I won't be describing the Illithids mentioned a lot during this story, I want y'all to make assumptions on how each of them look ;)

<<"My elder, I know how this sounds, and I am well aware of what some of my fellow ulitharid thinks about this … experiment. But, I believe, that this time, it could work, if it is entrusted to me. I, as you know, my elder, am not like Akar, the traitor. I am far more capable of taking care of this experiment and documenting it, plus, I'm sure If I'm the one conducting this experiment, that it will not only be beneficial to our knowledge about how psionics develop in a younger host during its childhood and how to use this to our advantage, but it will also be a success, as the result from it won't have to be wasted, I personally would have taught him about the great purpose of our race, so he would be loyal, unlike the abomination that Akar made.">> Erikles, one of the three ulitharids of more influence within the colony's creative creed argumented.

Otrer, an ulitharid of the nourisher creed, and the other side of the argument that was being explained to the elder brain was who spoke next. <<"Creating another abomination can only be bad for us. The last one not only escaped with the traitor, but also developed unstable powers, it alone managed to kill one of our fellow ulitharid and seven Illithid more, plus countless thralls. Our resources are limited thanks to that ordeal, to even think you are suggesting of conducting that same experiment again …. I would dare say that you have gone mad, but it wouldn't be a surprise, your creed tends to be like that.">>

Erikles had beenlaring from across the elder brain's room at Otrer since the other ulitharid had begun to talk, their mutual hatred was something that everyone else was well aware of, and their rivalry was almost legendary, the ulitharid of the creative creed was going to answer when the elder brain interrupted their argumenting, as these two, Erikles and Otrer, had been at this back and forth of arguments for at least half of the day, and the elder brain was starting to get tired of their time wasting arguments, much as the rest of members the elder concord that were reunited for this argument, some of them supported Otrer, others supported Erikles, and some weren't in favour of any of the two.

<<"Enough. It's enough. A decision has been made. Otrer, your creed must look for a new child for the experiment, preferably a drow child, one with psionics affinities. Erikles, you will wait until the child is awake as one of us, then, you will only have this opportunity to raise them and study them.">> The elder brain had spoken, the decision was made, the orders and permissions to repeat the experiment were given, Erikles kept a calm façade, but inside he was thrilling, he had won the argument and could conduct the experiment, while Otrer did a less good job at hiding his obvious anger towards having lost the argument, but complied.

As soon as the elder brain dismissed the elders concord every ulitharid in the room went to continue with their daily business, while Otrer went to do as the elder brain commanded, wanting to get done with the situation as soon as possible, he was against creating an abomination as much as any other from the nourisher's creed, but, a majority plus the elder brain were all against him and in Erikles' side, for now, they'll see, they'll see they made a mistake trusting in one of the creative's leaders, or so Otrer thought to himself as he levitated his way to the newest thrall's cells.

Erikles could have won this time, but there was still a lot of future for the creative creed ulitharid to fail horribly, and Otrer would be sure to be one of the causes of it, he chose the child thrall that would be used for the experiment himself and would make sure to be the one to choose which tadpole will be out into the host. A drow child with a bit of affinity for psionics, but with sickly looks, and, an immature and weak looking tadpole that wasn't eaten by the stronger ones yet.

Hopefully, the abomination won't make it past the conversion process.

But.

As everything that Otrer always hopes for, it doesn't go the way he wanted.

The child awoke days later, looking like a smaller version of an Illithid, and worst of all, it wasnt only a normal Illithid, it had traits proper of an ulitharid, the abomination was confused and didn't seem to remember much, but it learnt fast and was curious, what a disgusting thing it was.

Otrer, for once, was glad to see Erikles levitating into the chambers where new illithids were made, as Erikles took it with him and Otrer wouldn't have to see that nauseating thing for a while.


	2. Chapter 1. A name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Forgot to say the child is genderfluid, as in, doesn't mind what pronouns are used to talk about them)

Erikles had expected the child to be small, he had been informed that the chosen child was of a young age, in human years it would be around seven or eight. It was way too tiny compared to most others around, hopefully it will grow up fine, it looked like a small juvenile Illithid, which was normal, it had been created recently, but, what wasn't normal was the amounts of energy the tiny thing seemed to have.

It had learnt how to talk telephatically relatively quickly, Erikles thought it would take more time, but, on their way back to Erikle's personal chambers, where he already ordered his thralls to make a small space for the child experiment.

<<"Are you my dad? What's my name? What are we? Why do we got these … uh …. Wiggly face stuff?">> The child questioned, following after Erikles in that small robes it was given, the small abomination jumped around the levitating ulitharid, who was trying to remain professional but also friendly enough for the child to trust him, which wasn't easy, he was aware about how children of other species behaved, but, he couldn't know what this one they created would act, for now, it acted fairly normal, as a child would, that's what Erikles knew, but he had expected the creature resultant from the experiment to be less …. Like how it was behaving. He had expected it to be more similar to one of them, contrary to that, the child was behaving like a fairly normal child, curious about everything, but that wasn't necessarily bad, as children learn fast and develop capacities that can surpass those of full adults as they grow, or so said the theory his creed wanted to prove.

<<"Yes, If you'd like to call me that, we could say that I'm your creator, try to not call my dad that much. Father is alright, though.">> Erikles answered the child who followed him, while the child jumped around slightly and almost tripped with the robes that it was provided a few times. <<"We are Illithid. A glorious race. But you and I are even better than just Illithid, we are ulitharids, a noble class of our species. And, our 'face wiggly stuff', as you called it, are our tentacles, we use these to help ourselves when feeding, we ulitharids have usually two more than normal Illithids, these tend to be larger than the others, they are a status mark too.">>  
Erikles didn't answer the name question yet, he had to think about that some more, somehow, the child managed to grab his hand, this made the ulitharid stop and look down at it, the small creature looked back up at him with wide eyes, a side effect from being turned at such young age.

There was a pause in which none spoke, then, the child repeated the only question that the older ulitharid didn't answer. <<"What's my name?">>

The older ulitharid stared at the child, thinking for a long while, not trying to get his hand away from the small creature's hold for now, as they were alone in the corridor, almost already at the entrance to Erikles' chambers.  
<<"Your name …. Would you like to choose it yourself?">>

<<"uh … I don't know enough, I don't know many things, how am I going to choose a name for me? I don't know any names.">> The child was saying something true, it was already a miracle that it could understand some concepts and communicate via telepathy, but it was true that it didn't know a lot, it wasn't mature, neither the host body nor the larvae that was out on it, that was the meaning of this experiment, having a mind that knows nothing but is significantly faster at processing, comprehending and hoarding information, and it was going relatively well even if this was just the beginning, the child will have to learn through a mix of feeding on other races' brains and the knowledge that Erikles and others teach it, as supposedly, theoretically, the child could do both things easier, and lose less information than others when feeding, in theory the child should be able to understand and learn all of the information that it gets from its food, that could have terrible side effects, like the small abomination turning in on them, like the one that Akar the traitor made and protected when it's execution was ordered.

That's why Erikles had to be careful, he had to teach the child so the information it acquires doesn't make it go against their species, but, Erikles also had to be careful with getting attached to the small creature, like Akar did, who developed a mother-daughter like bond with the abomination and at the last moment went against the elder brain's order, causing the loss of a fellow ulitharid, around six or seven Illithids and a dozen of thralls when both, Akar and her abomination escaped the city. Erikles was aware that creating a child Illithid was dangerous, he knew that the abomination of Akar, who was a fellow creative ulitharid that tried to do the same he is doing now, had developed a strong psionic power in about ten solar cycles, enough to overpower another ulitharid, and it wasn't even an adult yet. The event was still recent, that's why many were against this, but, Erikles and others wanted to repeat the experiment because they all had seen the potential it had if done correctly, and this time, they could take preparations if the worst were to happen.

<<"Your name is … Νικάω … Nikao. It means the act of victory in a human language, I don't remember which one, but I believe it suits you.">> Erikles' face tentacles waved slightly as he seemed to do what would be a smile like gesture for their species as he looked down at the child.

Nikao tilted their head to the side. <<"Nikao … N i k a o ….">> They repeated, then tried to vocalize it. "Ni .. Kao …" The child frowned as they heard their own voice. <<"My voice sounds weird like that, it's scratchy …. Unnatural. But I love my name! Thank you dad!">>

Erikles winced internally at the term and looked around, making sure they were still alone, the kid's thoughts were pretty loud and easy to listen to, he let the child use that term and didn't correct them, for now, he had plenty of time to correct the small ulitharid behaviours, then his train of thought was interrupted as he felt a tug on his sleeve, the child had releases his hand to grip his sleeve, Nikao was still looking up at him, with the difference that the child looked tired, all the energy and excitement it had before was long gone, replaced by sleepiness, that was normal, the child was too young and recently turned one of them, that's why it was sleepy.

<<"Yes, Nikao?">> Erikles knew that children sometimes grabbed at their parental figures's hands or sleeves when they wanted something.

<<"... Carry me, could you carry me …. Please?">> The child thoughts came in slowly, slurred and clearly showing how tired it was.

A part of Erikles recoiled at that question, the sole idea of him, a proud ulitharid, carrying someone, was just too unnatural, but, the other part of him knew that children were tactile creatures that needed to be reassured and protected on their childhood to a degree, so, pushing away and silencing the part of him that screamed angrily at the idea of carrying the child, he answered. <<"Alright, fine, but only this time. You must learn to go on on your own, even if you are tired, plus, you will be learning to levitate soon, at least you should.">> Erikles explained in a slightly stern tone as he, at first awkwardly, took the child up, finally he managed to get ahold of Nikao in a less awkward way.

<<"I was trying to do that!">> Nikao exclaimed, somehow managing to say it all clearly through his sleepiness.

<<"Do what? Levitate? Is that why you kept jumping around me?">> Erikles felt amused, it was weirdly adorable that the child had tried to imitate him by jumping around, he is glad he won't be admitting he just thought that to no one.

The child hummed back an answer as it rested its head to the adult ulitharid's shoulder. Erikles let out a sigh that could only meant 'I'm slightly annoyed, but I got myself into this voluntarily, so now I will endure it and succeed through the adversities', then, he levitated the rest of the way to his chamber, while the child fell asleep on his hold.  
Once inside his chambers he went to the area his thralls had prepared with a bed for one and a medium size desk for the child, he let Nikao in the bed carefully, knowing the child would most probably stay asleep until next day, and that then the child would require to be fed for the first time.

He commanded two of his thralls to stay and watch over the child for today, as Erikles still had other things to take care of, like getting ahold of at least two meals that the child could have tomorrow, he knew children needed to eat more than adults in some species, so, probably the child will remain hungry after their first meal, which could lead to a bad development of the child's body and mind, and Erikles didn't want that, because that would be a nuisance for the experiment.  
Soon, his own usual agenda will be occupied by having to raise, teach and watch over the child, Nikao, he reminded himself, the name was important, as it would be how the child will be known by the lesser species, and it will be a name they will fear, Erikles hoped that the experiment would go just as he had planned, that not only could they study the child's development, but also turn him into an educated weapon. The creative creed ulitharid will have to talk with the other two most important creative ulitharids about how they'll take care of the other works and projects Erikles was in charge of, those were all minor in relevance to him now, after all, he had to put his full attention on this new experiment.


	3. Chapter 2. First meal, learning, and stories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Content warning for brain eating description)

It was feeding time, first time that the child would be fed. Erikles felt as if he hasn't had any rest the night before. Much to his dismay, the child had awoken around what would have been midnight, at least, their equivalent of midnight, which was the time that Erikles was going to go to sleep, he didn't require much sleep, only a few hours, instead he spent those hours teaching Nikao how to levitate, the child had awoken with renewed energies after sleeping almost all day and upon spotting him they had began to ask to be taught how to levitate.

Erikles, knowing that the sooner he taught the child how to use their psionic the better, had spent all night up, until the kid managed to levitate on their own without abruptly falling. And it was actually a very successful night, the child learned truly fast and didn't repeat the same mistake two times, it was really fascinating for the ulitharid, who made sure to document what he could observe, still, staying awake all night had left Erikles more tired than what he is used to, but he knows he can manage to stay awake, for progress, for knowledge and science, those are the only reasons he would sacrifice hours of his sleep. Today would be a long, decisive day, after all, it would be the first time Nikao eats, and depending in how acts afterwards then Erikles will be able to continue the experiment, or, on the contrary, kill the child if it acted too emotional from the meal.

The older ulitharid levitated through the corridors, with the child following close, who at first followed him levitating but after a while seemed to not be able to keep doing so and instead followed walking, almost running. Once they arrived where Erikles had made sure to order to bring two thralls to feed to the child(disposable ones that the child could eat), one thrall was a human, the other a kobold, it seemed like a fair meal for the child. The area was a small room, guarded by four other thralls, armed ones, and two Illithids, Erikles would stay at the door while the child fed on the human first.

Nikao seemed slightly out of air, but entered into the room first when the older ulitharid motioned for them to do so. The child stopped in the middle of the room, when they noticed that none of the others stepped into the room too, they scanned the room and the two thralls, Nikao knew already what thralls are, their dad told them, but they weren't so sure why they were here or what they had to do, they thought that they were going to eat, the child turned to stare at the ulitharid and the two illithids, these stared back, Erikles in wonder, waiting to see how the child would act, while the other, one seemed disgusted and the other uncaring.

<<"Come on Nikao, feed from the human first, do you know how?">> The adult ulitharid words were enough to make the child realize what they had to do, they weren't dumb, they already knew how to levitate! … For a while. And so, the child turned back to look at the human thrall, the human was bald, Nikao knew they usually had hair on their heads, but this one was bald, they couldn't tell if the human was male or female, genders were a weird, alien concept for the child, so, instead of trying to think about it, the child stepped closer to the thrall, knowing it was under mind control to make it easier for their first meal, their dad had told them how this occasion would be special, decisive, but the child wasn't sure why.

<<"I know how.">> The child nodded, not turning to look at the other three adults, instead Nikao leaned over, closer to the kneeling thrall's head, putting their hands on either shoulder of the thrall, tentacles moving and wrapping around the human's head as they got close enough to feed, the child hesitated for a moment, a moment that was too long for Erikles, who stared intently, hoping that the experiment didn't backfire this soon. And it didn't, an audibly crack could be heard about a minute after, the child couldn't believe how satisfactorily dealing and hearing that crack to the skull of the thrall was, and when he began to feed and experience the memories of the thrall Nikao almost couldn't believe them, there was so much out there, so much to learn, to see, so much more than what they had been told! Why dad didn't tell them about the ocean? And the grass? Trees?? Big brown and green things with branches that reached the sky? Why no one told them about the stars? The sky? They wanted to see those! They sounded really amazing! But then, there was …. Pain. There was pain too, but the child didn't care about it that much, they were too focused on the good memories of the thrall as they ate, learning and seeing through the eyes of other, it was a nice rush of information, memories and feelings, and then suddenly it stopped, Nikao had emptied the thrall's head, and it was very, very unsatisfying, they wanted to see more, to know more, they also wanted to go to those places and see those things themselves, but, they knew that that would be too difficult for now, but some day, someday they will go, and they will see the sky.

The child had already finished eating the first meal about two minutes ago, but, they hadn't moved from where they were, this set off Erikles' red flags, something was wrong, the other two illithid tensed, knowing that the child wasn't supposed to take that much time to think.

<<"Nikao?">> Erikles called, this seemed to snap the child out of their train of thoughts.

<<"Can I have another?">> The child asked, turning to look at the ulitharid, noticing how the other two Illithids that were at either side of their father were tense, and how their thralls were brandishing their weapons, but Nikao decided to ignore that, everything was fine, they just wanted to eat more.

Erikles waved his right hand in the air, as a sign to dismiss both, the thralls and the other two Illithids, he wouldn't need no backup, the child didn't go mad and was still very unaware of its potential destructive power, the experiment was being a success for now, he could continue to teach the child. <<"You can eat the kobold that's over there, it's memories won't be as good as the human one's, but it should be enough to satiate your hunger today.">>

And so the child did, this time he finished the kobold sooner than the human, it wasn't as good, but it was indeed enough to keep them satiated, they certainly didn't want to eat more, but they did want to learn more, this ended with Erikles and the child returning to their now shared chambers, so Erikles could begin with the lessons for the child. It would be a challenge, as the child has a weirdly very limited connection to the elder brain, that was why teaching them was so important, as they were far more independent from the elder brain than the ulitharids themselves, it was still unknown why that happened, but they will find out sooner or later.

The day was indeed long for Erikles, the child had too many questions and wanted to learn more than it was possible in one day, so, when bedtime approached the older ulitharid decided to try a strategy that he knows from the memories of one of his meals that usually worked to calm children and help them sleep.

<<"You know what, it's time to go to sleep, and I don't care if you say you aren't sleepy again. I know just how to help you sleep.">> The ulitharid patted the child's shoulder as a sign for them to get up from the chair at the desk where they had been learning how to write, the child did so and went to their own bed, getting in it and looking at Eriklos expectantly, they wanted to know what the older had to say.

<<"I am going to tell you a story.">> Eriklos announced, sitting at the bed's shore, he helped the child, tucking them in, only because he knows children are tactile creatures and need reassurance from an older being, not because he's getting emotionally attached to the child in the short spawn of almost three days, not at all, he is not that weak, and he cannot afford getting attached to an experiment, unless he wants to end like Akar, the traitor.

Nikao's eyes widened in excitement, they had never been told story yet, but they knew that it would be awesome. <<"Oh that sounds great da- … father!">> They corrected themselves, Eriklos had already told them several times about how they could only call him father when alone, but not dad, and creator when in front of others.

<<"Very well, then, I shall tell you a story that happened a long time ago, many years in the past, back when our elder brain was still like you and I …">>

The story was about a fight with the Gith, an encounter that ended with their victory, led by their elder brain themselves when they were a normal illithid, Eeiklos made sure to make it sound like they were the 'good ones', the right ones, and to exaggerate the Gith as the 'bad ones', the wrong ones. This story's purpose was not only to help the child with sleeping, but also to propagandize their own species in the child's eyes as the right ones, as the best ones. It worked, the child was completely in awe after being told this story, so much that, through their tiredness and sleepiness, made a request. <<"Can I have a … uh …. A plushie? … a plushie of the elder brain? They sound amazing ….">> The child knew what a plushie was thanks to the memories of the human they consumed, and now wanted one.

Erikles didn't answer to the child's request, instead he waited until the child was deep asleep, then he got up and silently with the help of his thralls began to work into fulfilling the child's request. It could be good to do so, as it could reinforce the child's positive view towards their traditions and society, if the elder brain was like some sort of hero for the child, just like human heroes are for human children, then the experiment could go very well, as the problem with the one that Akar made was that the abomination wasn't allowed to interact with the rest of the colony, only Akar, and therefore didn't trust any of them, at least Erikles thinks that that was the mistake, he'd probably be getting the child to meet the elder brain soon, and he should introduce the child to other Illithids too, he already had an idea about which ones should meet the child.

Erikles finished the plushie in less than an hour, then, left it next to the child on the bed, afterwards he moved to the other side of the chambers, where his own bed was at, he really needed to rest some, a couple hours would be enough. As he was falling asleep he wondered if he was making the right choices, and found out that he didn't have an answer to that question yet, but did have an idea of what the answer could be, it was just slightly out of his grasp.


	4. Chapter 3. New "friends".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon height differences:  
> Nikao is 3' feet tall for now, Nikao's robes are for a 4' feet tall humanoid.
> 
> All other illithid are 8 feet + tall. While the ulitharids are 10 to 12 feet tall, with the exception of Zebagal who is 13 feet tall.
> 
> Malaki goes by they/them too.
> 
> Pillock: A very stupid or foolish person.

At the beginning of the eleventh day, Erikles had already made the decision to take the child with him to the main hall where the creative creed reunited, it was important to introduce the child to others as soon as possible, even if they were adults, it would be enough to help Nikao develop correct social mannerisms, after all, Erikles couldn't teach them everything, this the ulitharid will never admit, but the others are silently well aware of this.

The child had already been fed and had insisted on carrying the elder brain plushie around all the while, because it was 'very cool' and 'they had to let everyone know how cool it was', Erikles had then tried to bargain with the child so they would leave the plushie at their chambers, but to no avail, somehow the small ulitharid in the making was already fairly good at arguments, not that this was bad, not at all, the fact that the kid already knew their way with words was very good, it even made the ulitharid feel proud of how much progress Nikao made, it was a weird feeling of proudness that he had not felt before, neither from any of his meals, or at least he couldn't remember having felt it before, therefore Erikles couldn't put a name to it.

The child had mastered levitation during the last ten days and had begun to learn telekinesis, being able to pick up and throw small objects around, like pencils and such, but still struggled with object the size of books, still, it was a lot of progress, plus all the progress the kid made at talking, adapting their behaviour and at learning from the memories of meals, Erikles also noticed how the child tried to talk to themselves, struggling to vocalize without using telepathy, but, doing incredibly better than most other adult illithid, that could be good if the child ever decided to go with the Ariser creed, even though Erikles himself had expectations of the child to stay with his creed, the creatives, but, he wouldn't mind that much if the kid ended up with the Tamer creed or the Abysmal creed, but if the kid were to go to the Nourishers? Oh, that would be a critical hit to his ego. He would prefer to see the child go with the Arisers than with the Nourishers.

As Erikles thought about the future, levitating his way to the main hall of the Creative creed, with the child following close behind, he noticed how their fellow Creative ulitharid and main supporter back when he had to defend his arguments to repeat the experiment was already waiting for them outside of the hall, she was very eager to see the experiment herself, and since Erikles told her and the others that he would bring the small illithid child for them to meet she had been very impatient and excited about it, he knows her curiosity is mainly a morbid one, sometimes Erikles had to agree with Otrer on what the Nourisher ulitharid said some days before, that his creed, the creative creed, was full of mad squids, and this one, she, was that stereotype.

<<"Zebagal. Good mornings.">> He said, stopping in front of said ulitharid, who was in front of the doorway to the main hall, she probably wanted to be the first one to meet the child, Erikles knew Zebagal was strong, but also intelligent, she was so strong and smart enough too to have threatened the rest of the Creative creed into waiting to meet the child after she did first, she is, how would humans say it? Pretty intense? Yeah, she's pretty intense. But a valuable member of the colony nonetheless.

<<"Good morning, Erikles. Show me the child or face my wrath.">> Zebagal transmitted those thoughts with an undertone of 'this is a joke, but only if you have brought the child'.

Erikles rolled his eyes, then moved to the side to let her see Nikao, who had his behind the other as soon as they saw this stranger, she was slightly scary, Nikao didn't know why, but they had a bad feeling about her, even though the child knew their creator had taken them out to meet others, they couldn't help but feel intimidated by the taller than their dad ulitharid. When Erikles moved to the side, Nikao did their best to not follow him to try and hide behind him again, instead they looked up at the taller ulitharid, one hand hugging their 

<<"Aww! Looks at that cute little abomination! I never got to see one of these when they still are this small and young. I am glad I made the good decision when I supported you in the little argument you had with Otrer, this small thing seems to be going to be an ulitharid too, like us! Isn't that nice? Even though it's an abomination, it still will have certain prestige, if they reach full maturity without …. Complications. What can it do? What have you taught it? How did it react when it fed for first time? Did you name it yet? Is that a plushie that looks like the elder brain? That's adorable!">> Zebagal's telepathic tone of voice had just gone farther beyond the point of bothersome to Erikles, while the child slowly warmed up to her presence.

<<"Their name is Nikao. They can levitate, write, mimic some human languages and move small objects with their mind already. You already know how they reacted the first way they fed, but I wouldn't be surprised that you forgot, so I will tell you again, they asked for a second meal, that was it. And yes, that is a plushie that looks like our elder brain, Nikao wanted one so I made it for them">> The older ulitharid answered every question of the taller but slightly younger ulitharid.

<<"Nikao? Nice name, also are we already suppose to refer to it as them? Alright-y then. Can I take them up?">> She said, squatting down in front of the child to be face level with them, she was already holding her arms out to take the small illithid child up.

Erikles let out a sigh at her and the eccentricities she isn't ashamed of doing sometimes, answering positively. <<"If they let you. You have to ask them, not me.">>

Zebagal had looked up at Erikles when he talked but her attention went back to the child quickly, she tried to not seem intimidating and to give off a friendly aura, she wanted to gain the small abomination's trust, it was supposedly easy, or so the knowledge from he meals told her so, that children were easy to deceive, but, she had also noticed the intelligence and wariness in the kid's eyes, the little thing seemed to be pretty smart, well, with a teacher like Erikles anyone would be pretty smart soon for their own good, she remembers when she was new in the colony, Erikles had been her mentor and guide through her first days as a new illithid, back when she was less eccentric and self confident, she knew how strict and demanding the older ulitharid could be, with Erikles, you either learnt or suffered. <<"So, can I pick you up, little one?">> She asked the child.

Nikao glanced at their creator, then at the tall ulitharid in front of them, hesitatingly they nodded and as soon as they did they were being hoisted up in the air by the tall ulitharid, at first they felt slightly scared, but when Zebagal spun the both of them around, repeating herself again as she stated 'how cute they were' and 'how great it was to have a portal me size mini version of their species' and so on, she really didn't seem able to stop projecting her thoughts out loud for them, by Erikles' face Nikao could deduct that this behaviour of her was usual, so the child, slightly amused by her comments and mannerism, decided that maybe this new acquaintance wasn't that bad.

<<"Hey little one, what do you think of the elder brain? Your dad says you asked for a plushie that looked like them, why is that so?">> Zebagal questioned the child, keeping a friendly tone in her projected thoughts, as she walked into the main hall with Erikles next to her, he was far more worries that she would accidentally drop the child but he heard those questions, she was a pretty loud thinker, the questions would seem pretty innocent but not for Erikles, he knew she was prodding for wrong answers, anything that would give away that the experiment wasn't going correctly, last time, with Akar and her abomination, what went wrong was that the creature had hated both, the elder brain and the rest of the hive.

The child was fast to answer those questions, giving out answers that were good enough for Zebagal. <<"The elder brain is awesome! Did you know that when I was like us they fought and won against the Gith?">> Nikao seemed to be glorifying their elder brain, thanks to Erikles' nighttime stories, that was good, now all that was left was make the child feel safe around others of the colony, that could be more complicated, as a third of the colony were against the creation of the child themselves, still, it wasn't impossible, not for the creative creed, weirder experiments had they made succeed, like making a brainstealer dragon, that was harder than raising a child, after all, dragons weren't that common and most of the times the ceremorphosis failed, but this experiment? This was easier, or so thought the entirety of the creative creed.

Nikao and Erikles spent the last hours of the day with some of the members of the creative creed, mostly with Zebagal and her disciples, who, like their mentor, where very fascinated in a morbid way by the child, some of Erikles own disciples were around too, but most of them were too busy trying to meet the ulitharid expectations by working on their individual and group projects to enhance psionics. The child spent most of the time either in Zebagal's hold or in the hold of one of her disciples as they examined them from closer or just wanted to see them better, then returned Nikao to Zebagal, who seemed to have taken a liking for holding the child in the weirdest way possible, do you all my readers know of that first scene in the lion king when Rafiki is holding Simba? Well, that's it, that's how Zebagal keeps holding Nikao, which, to be honest, is not the best way to hold a child, but, no one else wants to be the one to tell her that she isn't supposed to hold the child like that, plus it wasn't that bad, she could be holding them by the ridiculously small robe, at least it was like that for the full adult Illithids of the room, that was comically too large for the child themselves.

At some point, one of the tallest ulitharid disciples made a few questions. <<"And what did you say that they can do? Levitate? Can we see?">>

That's when the evening went wrong.

<<"Oh yeah, sure, let's see if it's true that the small thing can levitate!">> Zebagal answered, with a sadistic hint on her loudly projected thoughts, to which Erikles wasn't fast enough to react, as she had thrown the child up full force before the other could even tell her to not do it.

Nikao let out a telepathic scream as they went up and then, thanks to the pull of gravity, down, thankfully the child was fast enough in using their psionics to stop mid air right before they could collide into the floor, then moved to be in a standing position, trembling in what Zebagal mistook for fear as she laughed loudly, her laugh followed by that of her disciples.

Oh she didn't know what mistake she had just made, Nikao trembled, not in fear, but in rage, they felt dumb and betrayed, letting out a weird screeched roar like noise that seemed to originate from deep within their chest and gurgled out through their mouth, this was followed by the dumbfounded and total silence of the ones laughing, after the pause, Zebagal began to laugh again, but her laugh was cut short as she and everyone else felt an increasingly potent and volatile psionic pressure in the room, then there was a mind blast that hit the tallest ulitharid directly, throwing her back and into the floor, stunning her effectively.

Just as that had just happened, the child too collapsed to the ground, unconscious and weak after the psionic outburst, one of Erikles' disciples that had been hanging around went quickly to take the illithid child up and into a table, to where Erikles himself quickly levitated to too, they had to make sure the experiment was alright, while this happened, Zebagal was coming out of the stunt and pushing away any of her disciples that tried to help her as she sat up groaning.

<<"What …. What just happened?">> The tallest ulitharid asked, still suffering the aftermath of the direct attack.

<<"Seems to me that you got just what you deserved.">> These thoughts were projected loudly from the doorway, as someone new, new for you, my readers, but not for the creative creed, entered the room, this new character seemed amused by the ordeal.

<<"Ow … Malaki? How much did you see?">> Zebagal got up, looking at the third ulitharid of most influence inside the creative creed, who is probably the only one that could rivalry with her in their creed when it comes to power.

<<"Enough to know that you deserved that. And enough to say that this experiment is going well, the fact that the child doesn't, uh, how do humans say it again? Oh right, doesn't take shit from you, Zebagal, means that the child is not only capable of evaluating if they can overpower a rival or an enemy, but that they can decide if said individual deserves death or just a little stunt, like you. It also lets us know that they are developing their psionics correctly, following the path we want them to follow, after all, we are even going to have to thank you for being a dense pillock.">> Malaki explained to the tallest ulitharid, while she frowned at their last words.

<<"I do not know the meaning of that last word and it is infuriating.">> Zebagal's frown deepened as she glared at Malaki, who had this air of smugness around themselves. <<"If you want to start throwings wits at me expect my answers, you dickhead.">>

<<"Nah, I refuse to enter a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent whose intellectual coefficient is below what's acceptable.">> They were very good at pushing Zebagal's buttons, who, instead of answering, stares at them intently, trying to intimidate Malaki unsuccessfully, then growled and left the room with her disciples, knowing that staying would only mean psionically fighting the other and she was not in the mood for neither Malaki's comments nor for fighting them.

Malaki waited until the last of the tallest ulitharid's disciples had left, then, they walked to stand next to Erikles to take a look at the unconscious child. <<"Don't worry for her, Erikles, she's only mad at me, not the child. Also, I apologize for showing up this late, it's almost bedtime and I'm sure you want the experiment to sleep properly, and more after they just tired themselves out after giving Zebagal a lesson she needed to learn. At least I was able to witness this magnificent small ordeal … What was their name again? Nikao? That's such a good choose for a name. It's the verb used by ancient greeks in one of the human planets to define the act of victory. It couldn't be a better name for this experiment.">>

<<"I know, I didn't remember it was a Greek word, I knew it was from one of those planets where there are humans, but didn't know from which one, I also knew the meaning of it already. I too think that it is a good name for the child.">> Erikles said, one hand hovering over the small illithid child's head, carefully poking at Nikao's mind to see if they responded correctly, making sure nothing was damaged inside, that could be an important problem, thankfully the child was alright, just completely tired out.

Malaki hummed telepathically, watching as Erikles made sure that the experiment was alright, they had spotted the small plushie with the elder brain's shape that belonged to Nikao, then they took it up using their telekinesis and out it on the table next to the child. <<"I think this belongs to the experiment, right? … Well, they seem okay, don't they? Then I will be leaving, I have to continue with my own project. Keep up the good work Erikles, don't make me regret having chosen your side in the argument with Otrer.">> That said, the oldest of the creative creed most influential ulitharids left the room.

Erikles thought that today went fairly good, even if the child could have been damaged, which did not happen, at least he won't have to tell Nikao a story today, and he was sure the child will sleep all night without waking up and in turn waking him up too. He really needed a good night of sleep or he won't be able to keep his façade of 'I am well and rested and functioning properly at my best capacity' up.


	5. Chapter 4. Limited freedom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Existential crisis, questioning existence, depressive thoughts

Seven months had nearly gone by, Erikles made sure the child followed a strict routine, but, he also granted, both, the child and himself a day of break from it every week. During this day of 'break', what Erikles did was report to the elder brain and the rest of ulitharids about the experiment's development, Nikao was granted freedom of movement through the colony's domains, well, it was a limited freedom, there were many places they couldn't go to, like the elder brain's room and the larvae ponds, they were also not allowed near any of the exits of the colony, but the child was fine with the that, they were aware of the many dangers of the outside, even if deep down there wasn't anything else they wanted more than to go outside and explore the rest of existence, the knowledge and memories from their means weren't enough for Nikao, they needed more, they wanted more than just other creature's knowledge and memories, they wanted to make memories of their own too, but, when they tried to tell Erikles the older ulitharid had looked at them as if they had just said something really stupid, so, Nikao kept those thoughts to themselves since then.

According to Erikles, they had made a lot of progress, such as learning how to write in Qualith, plus a few other languages of lesser beings that could be helpful to know for them in a future, the child had also developed several psionic basic powers faster than what it usually takes for a newly created adult illithid, telekinesis, levitation, mind blasting to a certain degree, having used newly captured thralls as practice for inflicting those, at first they child couldn't control the intensity of their mind blasts and accidentally liquified the brains of the first two thralls Erikles told them to mind blast, from there the child learned to tune down the intensity of the psionic attack to a less deathly one, the child was also beginning to develop other still not too well defined psionic powers.

While they had been practicing the mind blast, Erikles had many different thoughts and observation about the child, on his thoughts he compared Nikao to a hatchling snake, deadlier than adult ones due to its inability to measure the poison inflicted into a threat or meal, but also far more vulnerable as it was smaller and more naïve, in fact, that is a worrisome part of the experiment, their naivety, the child could act like an adult and recognise situations in which they had to follow certain rules, they also seem to have developed a sense of good and bad where they recognises the Illithod species as the good ones, as the correct ones, and the rest of species as bad or wrong, this was particularly good, as the last experiment had done the opposite, it had recognised Illithid as evil.

But this wasn't always like that, not at all, the child tended to behave like an actual child would do, they would ask to be picked up, ask others to play with them, show fear when they didn't know what happened, between other things that were not usual for the illithids, still, Erikles had already informed everyone of these small problems and explained that it was crucial for the experiment to go correctly that no one shattered the child's point of view, that it had to be slowly molded and taught into being a normal illithid, most probably during the next ten years, considering that the child looks to be and sometimes behaves like a seven or eight year old by human standards. It really infuriates Erikles that they didn't have any standards to measure the age of an experiment like this, that is what makes things more difficult, but, on the other hand, they were making history, discovering things that those before them had not, therefore Erikles was slightly annoyed but also proud of himself for conducting an experiment like this a lot better than the traitor, who had let herself be invaded by feelings, while Erikles has been resisting against those, he did care for the child to a certain degree, but only because it was his duty, yeah, he totally never thought about how wrong this was, forcing a child to go through this process to try and weaponize them, he never ever thought about taking the child away like the traitor did with the last abomination, not even when the child would act naïve and question if they were really the right ones, because, after all, experimenting aside, the creature they created IS a child, and one that seems to hold the effect of making parental like feelings and those kind of thoughts appear on their kind, maybe it was because of the abominations' natural evolutive effects which were still unknown, maybe that was why the traitor left, perhaps having the child around had that effect, Erikles really hoped that that wasn't the case, because then it would result on a failure again, he really expected that what happened was just because Akar, the traitor, was weak.

Whatever it was the reason for Akar to leave with her abomination, it was with it repeating again, as last time they couldn't get ahold of this lot of knowledge from it, as the other child had never been in direct contact with the rest of the hive, Erikles was positive that that was the only major problem back then, it won't likely repeat this time, as Nikao had been introduced to almost every other Illithid of the hive, some found the child disgusting and abominable, which was understandable, but others found them interesting and a weird wonder to have around.

As I was narrating, today they were in break day, and while Erikles went to reunite with the the elder brain and a few other ulitharids from the elder concord, to discuss his new findings and update them about the experiment's development. While the child was let to wander around the areas they were allowed to explore, of course, they weren't allowed to bother any of the ulitharids that they could encounter, but they were allowed to mess around with normal illithids if those weren't doing anything too important, Erikles and a few of the ulitharids thought that it was amusing to see a mini-version of an ulitharid like creature bothering the normal illithids, as the reactions were varied, plus the ordeal with Zebagal is known by practically everyone in the hive, most illithids seemed to get nervous, annoyed or confused when the child approached them to talk, sometimes the three things at the same time.

Today Nikao was not really in the mood to try to talk to others, most were rude or behaved strange, as if put off by them, or so they thought as they walked down some stairs, having found that they preferred to walk a lot more than just levitating though places, walking was funnier because of the risk of tripping, they had tried to tell their father about it, which ended with him giving them a lecture on about how that was something of low creatures and that they were superior and far more powerful and needed to demonstrate so with their actions and choices, such as levitating instead of walking, Nikao had been bored much while he received the lecture, but, acted as if they were paying attention, after that they only walked when alone, not wanting to disappoint Erikles but also wanting to feel ground under their feet.

That wasn't the first time the child had taken such decisions, of keeping their ideas and things they liked to do to themselves, Nikao had learnt fast that this society they lived in was very demanding, and, for what they could see from the memories and knowledge of their meals, they knew that there were other societies out there that were less strict, all they wanted was to know things, to do things too, not only know them, that would be boring, they wanted to experience the world, they wanted to live it, but, sadly, that's not what their people do, that's not what Illithids do, Erikles had told them so, still this only made them crave a different life even more, they sometimes felt trapped or even as if they weren't really alive, the repetitiveness of waking up, feeding, learning, going to sleep, waking up, feeding, learning, going to sleep, and so was too much sometimes. Still, Nikao didn't want to disappoint Erikles, they could feel and tell when the old ulitharid was proud of them, or when they were satisfied with their answers, they had developed capacities of which they hadn't spoke of to Erikles, because they have also learnt that they should not have these capacities, they sometimes could listen to others of the hive talking, and somehow Nikao knew they were supposed to notice them listening, but they didn't, no one ever did, still the child tried to not do so a lot.

Nikao wanted to be good, they admired the elder brain and Erikles too, they wanted to be like them, although it was so difficult, something inside them told them that they didn't truly want that, and sometimes they felt confused and scared, more in the late hours of night, when they wake up from horrible nightmares that they can't really decipher. Nikao tried, they tried really hard, it was enough for now, even if they knew that they wouldn't be able to keep the act up forever, their desire for something more was too strong, it always plagued their thoughts when they let their mind wander, seeing the sky, the stars, traveling to other worlds, to other planes of existence, those are the things they wished to do more than anything else, to see the rest of existence by themselves.

Other times they thought about the meaning, the one that their acts and everyone else's acts had, like, wasn't this all futile? Wouldn't they all die one day? Won't existence stop existing one day? Why bother trying? Why bother doing what others want them to do when everything always has an end? Everything is finite, even gods themselves, they knew, they had gathered those knowledges in the last few months, they had also deducted some by themselves, they were kinda glad that they were given nice meals with fairly wide knowledge, not that glad as the knowledge began to become a burden when they let their mind wander.  
This is why the child preferred to act like a child, as they could do so for a limited amount of time, as soon as they matured they will be expected to behave like any of the other in the hive, otherwise something bad could happen, and they didn't want that.

Nikao continued to walk around the usually empty hall of this area of the hive, close to one of the gates that let them go out and into the rest of the Underdark, but not close enough to be stopped and questioned by the guard and her thralls guarding it, this area was usually empty as everyone else were dillithidir duties further inside the hive, only Ariser creed illithids would sometimes wander around this place. Nikao was sure that it was because half of them felt like they did or similar, they were sure that Ariser illithids not only wanted to conquer the outside, but also wanted to see it and be on it as much as they do, the child had certain empathy with them, but never let anyone know about it, empathy was not good, Erikles had told them, that made them weak.  
Still, Nikao did what they learnt to do, which is keeping their thoughts and ideas to themselves.

The child had hid under the darkened area of a staircase, as they felt two Arisers coming down the stairs to probably go out the gate, they usually went in pairs to the surface, it was safer that way, it also took them a few months to do so, as they had to exit the Underdark too. Nikao recognised them, they were Phylegrade and Keschr, probably the two Arisers creed that they had have the opportunities to talk more with, and they knew that both illithids were fairly friendly towards them, as if they weren't that faced by them being a child like version of a mature ulitharid.

Nikao, upon knowing it was them two, got out from where he was hiding and approached them before they could leave, they grabbed at both illithids's cloaks, this made them turn.

<<"Hey! Where are you two going? To the surface? Could you get me something from outside?">> They asked, hopeful that both older illithids would agree.

Keschr looked at Phylegrade, who was still looking at the child, seemingly pondering, and Keschr knew then that her companion was really thinking about it. <<"Phyl, Phyle … We really shouldn't …. Do that, you know, right?">>

<<"Sure kid. We can do that. No one will know.">> The last part was said mostly to Keschr. <<"What do you want us to bring you? Anything random or did you thought of something? If it's something specific we might not be able to bring it.">>

Nikao wanted to jump in happiness, but they settled for moving their hands up and down slightly, they believe it's called stimming. <<"Bring me a plant! I want to see one myself, with my own eyes.>>

That answer made Phylegrade chuckle out loudly, he thought that it was weirdly cute how they behaved and how they reminded him of himself and Keschr, both of them wanted to see the outside more than anything since they were converted into illithids, just as the kid does, and their best opportunity was the Arisers creed, it is probable that the child will want to join their creed, and, if the kid could really rivalry against a mature ulitharid already then they would be very welcomed to the Arisers creed if they grow up without the experiment failing, actually, a few creeds were already with their eyes set on the child, not only the Arisers, but also others such as the Tamers, the Creatives, the Abysmals and even some of the Nourishers.

<<"Alright, little abomination, we'll bring you a nice plant.">> Phylegrade then turned to walk towards the area of the gate, waving goodbye at the child.

Keschr didn't go just yet, she watched as Phyl left, then looked at the child. <<"You can trust in us for this task, oh mighty Zebagal ass's kicker. We are the best of the Arisers out there.">> She said, joking, letting herself chuckle slightly, it was kinda nice being around the child, as they didn't judge then by their every word, she turned to follow her companion.

Nikao laughed too, they found these two far more funny and nicer than most others, that only made them think that talking with other Arisers would be nice too, maybe they could try to do so next break day.


End file.
